HOMEEXO x Reader
by tronnorwolfstar
Summary: Fem!Reader insert :) You had lived in Australia your whole life until you begged your parents to let you move to Seoul, South Korea to persue your dream of becoming a professional singer-dancer. When you joined SM Ent. after multiple auditions, you felt as though you had finally gotten your life on track. That was until you noticed how different you were from the ideal female idol


READER POV:

" _Five, six, seven, eight, and hold_ –" My instructor called across the room to all of his trainees, including me.

We were all on the ground, our right legs tucked under us and holding our left leg up as high as it could reach. Bodies were shaking from overworked muscles as we held our pose, until instructed otherwise, and the sound of heavy panting filled the room.

" _And … down_." A few of the girls in the group dropped the rest of the way to the ground quite unceremoniously, others worried about their image and elegantly dropped their leg and stretched it out.

" _Well done, girls_." The instructor cooed condescendingly. I rolled my eyes. " _You can all pack up and leave now; practice is over. Keep hydrated and keep stretching_."

Some of the girls cheered quietly, and they all stood in no particular order to go grab their belongings. I stayed sitting on the ground staring at my hands, as the girls disappeared little by little out the door.

As soon as the dance room was empty, I got up from where I was sitting near to the back of the room and moved to the front, where I could see myself in better detail than the back; where I can be more critical. I scan over my body; all of the curves that I wished never existed, the muscles that seemed to be in the wrong places. I hated my body type. All of the other girls in my class had perfect, slender bodies, thigh gaps, taller, weighed less …

And then there was me. I had the body of a guy. I couldn't even speak the language properly. I don't even know why I'm here, I wouldn't fit the expectation of a female in a girl group.

Tears blurring my vision, I walked over to the phone dock, plug my phone in and play a song by my favourite artist Troye Sivan. I felt a special connection to him, being Australian like him. I played his song Suburbia, to remind myself of home and my family.

I walked back to the front of the room and stared at myself in the mirror again, this time preparing myself for dancing.

' _The sun sets longer, where I am from. Where dreams go to die, while having fun.'_

I began slowly and cleanly moving along to the music, in a contemporary form.

' _The boys fix their cars and the girls eat it up. Love is so good when love is young.'_

Getting lost in the song, my body glided around the room in rhythm to the tune playing.

' _Yeah, there's so much history in these streets, and mama's good eats, and wonder on repeat …'_

My body slowed to a stop, my eyes closed tightly shut. I was completely immersed in the song.

' _So much history in my head, the people I left, the ones that I've kept. Have you heard me on the radio? Did you turn it up? On your blown out stereo in suburbia …'_

I sat on the ground, a few tears leaking from my eyes, and I held my head in my hands as images of my house, my mum, dad and brother pop up in my mind.

' _Could be playing hide and seek from home, can't replace my blood. Yeah it seems I'm never letting go of suburbia.'_

I swallow my tears, angry at myself for letting any of these emotions out, and storm over to the phone dock, ripping my phone out of the plug and shoved into my pocket. Closing my eyes, I breathed in and then out, calming myself. When I opened my eyes I walked over to my bag, slinging over my shoulder. I brushed past the table set up for our drink bottles and picked up mine. I went to take a sip from it and gasped when I saw a figure leaning against the door frame into the practice room.

" _You are a really talented dancer_ ," the male voice of my dancing instructor said sincerely. " _Don't downgrade yourself. I know you miss your family, but be strong._ " He stood up from where he was leaning and walked slowly over to me. " _They would be proud of you, but if you give this up and go home now, I'm not sure how proud they would be of you. They'd want you to have hope_."

I could feel a large cotton ball in my throat, but I swallowed it down. I looked down, feeling guilty.

He walked right up to me and placed his hands on my strong shoulders. " _It's okay. You're okay_." He smiled at me and I tried smiling back.

He pulled me into a hug. We stayed like that for what seemed like a while, when we finally parted and he left the room. I slowly strolled out of the room after him, heading to my car. I arrived at my apartment just short of 11:30pm, and immediately collapsed onto my bed without eating, or changing, or even showering and fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke to the ear splitting sound of my alarm clock at 5am.

To keep myself awake, I slapped myself across my left cheek, but that only really resulted in me being really pissed at everything in my way. I crawl out of bed, feeling sticky, and stumble into the shower mumbling curses to myself. I got changed into some tennis shorts and a loose white t shirt with a black sports bra. I didn't really give a damn about what I wore anymore, and the girls don't care.

I quickly tied my (H/L) hair back as I ran out the door at 5:35am and threw myself into my car, started the engine, and drove off to the SM Ent. trainee dance rooms. There were already a few girls in the room stretching and chatting to their friends around them, so I walk to my usual place and stretch as well. About twenty – five minutes pass without me even noticing, and my normal instructor walked into the room, followed by an official looking man. He and my instructor looked to be deep in conversation, but seemed to end when my instructor nodded his head and looked directly at me, staring intensely. His face was blank of all emotions.

When he looked away, he addressed all of the girls in the room.

" _Okay, everyone_ ," his voice showing more enthusiasm than the usual. " _Since you're all ready, how about we run through the choreo_ …"

There were some hums of acknowledgement as we all lined up in our positions. My instructor paced around us as we danced, as well as the other man, but he only really was watching me.

Feeling nervous, I tried to loosen my joints up a bit, and succeeded at keeping my balance. I started to feel self-conscious, knowing that all of the other girls danced as if they were an idol in a girl group, dancing up to those standards. I always danced like a guy in a guy's group. There was nothing really girly about me.

Finishing up the dance routine, I stayed in my position until instructed otherwise, unlike some who held it halfheartedly. The official looking man approached me.

" _You're the one who has been mentioned to me …?_ " The man asked. It almost didn't sound like he was looking for an answer.

" _Um …"_ I don't really know what to say to that.

" _Yes."_ A voice from behind me. My instructor, who had gotten the girls to dance the routine again. " _Great dancer, isn't she? Not like the other girls."_

I freeze. I have no idea what my instructor has told this man, and no real idea why I have been talked about.

" _Let's take this outside, shall we?"_ The man said to me and my instructor.

Confused, I just stood there, my feet planted. I only started moving when my instructor placed his hand on my upper back and pushed me forward. When the door was closed slightly, the sharp looking man turned on me with a serious expression on his face.

" _Hello,_ " he addressed me. " _I am Kim Young Min, the CEO of SM Entertainment. I have been informed by a reliable source,_ " he nods to my instructor, the latter bowing his head slightly. Ugh that guy … " _that you, being talented dancer that was beautifully demonstrated in the practice room just now, would not fit well in a classic girl group, as you would in a boy group. At first, when I was notified of this, I thought your instructor had finally lost all of his senses. But he begged that I should see for myself, and doing so, I completely agree._ "

That was a lot to take in. At first, it was like he was just talking at me rather than to me, and it just blew past my ears. But then it all sank in. Does that mean that I am supposed to debut in a boy group?

" _I know it is a lot to process,_ " Young Min stated the obvious. " _So as an orientation, sort of, method, we're just going to place you into the boy's practice room for now. This is just so you get a feel of what it will be like._ "

Panic took over my body. " _W– What?"_

" _If any of the boys give you grief, come to me, okay?_ " My instructor put reassuring hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. There was no hint that he was joking evident in his facial features, and I nodded.

Young Min clapped his hands once. " _Well. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to their practice room …_ "

I trailed after Young Min in silence, my head bowed shyly. After a few turns and walks down long hallways lined with rooms with music blaring through the cracks in the door, we reached a room in which I had never entered before. Inside were numerous boys that seemed to range in age; from around my age to a few years older than me.

I hadn't quite stepped through the door, being told not to yet by Young Min while he talked to their instructor for a few seconds. Young Min, when finished talking, opened the door slightly wider so I could see him. He smiled and beckoned for me to enter the room, so I did as I was told. The room's interior was very much similar to that of the girl's training room, excepting the heavy atmosphere and the distinct smell of sweat and male deodorant. The room was filled with the sounds of heavy panting when I stood next to Young Min, starring at the ground.

" _Everyone, this is …_ " their instructor announced, attempting to introduce me politely but trailing off from not knowing my name, hoping I'd fill him in.

" _(Y/N). My name's (Y/N)."_ I said quietly to him and he nodded in recognition, smiling in return.

" _This is (Y/N). She is currently trying out how it is to train like a male idol, because she's apparently too good for the girls,"_ he jokes. " _If she can take the heat, she will stay in these classes, so please,"_ he eyed the boys in the room mock warningly, " _make her feel welcome, as we are all training together for a long time for most of you. Thank you."_

I looked up from the ground at the instructor, then at Young Min, who nodded to me and then jerked his head toward the sweaty group of guys eying me strangely. I smiled and nodded as a thank you at Young Min who smiled back and then left as fast as he had arrived.

I suddenly felt strangely vulnerable in a group of people who were unknown to me, but I swallowed those feelings down and turned towards the instructor.

" _(Y/N), you can go stand between …"_ I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, as I probably should've, but the two boys he apparently indicated to raised their hands in a shy sort of recognition. My legs, though they felt as though they were full of lead, moved all by themselves toward the space between the two boys I had been directed to. The two didn't really make an effort to look my way as a sort of greeting, but I had the feeling I was being watched. Whoever's eyes they were, they were burning holes through me.

" _Okay … so basically, today I'm going to teach you all some new choreo to make this a little fairer for (Y/N) …_ " the instructor smiled at me and some of the boys glanced at me.

As we worked through the moves, I found they weren't as difficult as I first anticipated. I tried my level best to copy the boys in how they did them, but soon gave up and did them however was easiest for me. Though only now I realized that, in hindsight, I probably should have worn a black t-shirt instead of a white one, considering my bra was showing through and I was getting long stares by some guys …

The guy next to me accidentally stepped on my foot when trying to land properly.

"Ow, fuck …" I trailed off, realizing I was speaking in a language that was presumably foreign to the majority of the boys in the room.

The tall boy who stepped on my foot turned to face me with an extremely apologetic look.

" _I am so sorry! How is your foot?"_ He fussed but I smiled and waved a hand, and said, " _you're all right. I'm okay, thanks."_

He raised his eyebrows at me, but smiled and turned back to the instructor. Meanwhile, I heard a small snort from another tall boy, though he looked slightly older than the one next to me. What is it with tall boys in this class? I frowned in confusion at the older looking boy but turned back to the instructor, like the boy next to me.

Four more hours of dancing later, we were all exhausted, and we were told to take a break and have something small to eat. I grabbed my drink bottle, and headed just outside of the studios and sat down in the fresh air, away from the strong smell of sweat and deodorant. The peace and quiet didn't seem to last too long, when I was joined by a largish group of boys. They seemed rather intimidating, and the boy at the front looked at me with an evil looking smirk, which obviously creeped me out.

" _So a girl in a class of 30 plus boys. Must be intimidating."_ He mused. I didn't know how to approach the situation, so I thought the best thing for me to do at this moment in time was to remain silent.

" _Can't you talk, Princess?"_ He stepped closer to me, making me look up at him with a small frown after his small degrading statement. I had to admit, he was quite scary.

He chuckled and slowly strutted closer so he could sit next to me; a little too close for comfort, making me twitch away from him and cross my arms over my chest.

" _There's no need to be scared, Beautiful. Just go with it."_ And with that, he took a step too far and reached over to squeeze my upper thigh, getting a small squeak from me, and gaining a chorus of laughter from the group watching it all happen.

I froze as the guy's hand slid further up my thigh, but it reached a point where my instincts kicked in and I shoved his hand off of me and tried to stand up to move away, but only to be blocked by the extensive group of boys. I stood there, trying to shove my way past them, but was pulled back down by my hips onto the 'leader's' lap.

" _Oi, leave her alone."_ I don't know whose voice it was, but I was mentally thanking them.

" _Piss off,"_ the boys holding me on his lap yelled back, his voice so loud next to my ear made me wince, but he then leaned close to my ear and whispered, " _as if I'd leave you alone, Babe."_

My eyes widened at his words, and his hot breath on the back of my neck made me shiver.

His hands were making their way up to my chest, my muscles tensed, and as if by reflex my torso swung around with my elbow extended, connecting with his jaw, causing him to let go of me for a split second. I took this as my prime time to dash, only to fall into the arms of some other guy. He wasn't a part of that other boy's group, but I still felt extremely vulnerable.

When I pushed away from the boy, he didn't resist, he just let me go. I looked up to see one of the many extremely tall boys which I remembered. He was the one who laughed at me. I frowned up at him, then fixed my eyes back on the ground and crossed my arms back over my chest, feeling slightly self-conscious.

"Are you okay? I was just about to come get you from them." He spoke in perfect English to me, which surprised me.

"U- uh, yeah." I stuttered, still trying to process the fact he can speak my language, though he sounded American.

"Well it didn't look as though you needed my help after all, the way you handled him. He's a dick, by the way. Try your best to stay away from him and his 'clan'." He smiled down at me. I don't know why, but I was sensing a fatherly aura coming from him, making me feel safe.

I smiled up at him. "I'll try my best."

There is a silence between us, but a comfortable one.

Until he broke the ice; "I'm Yifan, by the way." He held out his hand for me to shake, and I accepted it, shaking it twice. "I got a little thrown off by your accent. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking …?"

I hesitated for some reason, but was encouraged to reply by his friendly nature. "Ah, Australia. What about you?"

He chuckled. "Well, I was born in China, but moved to Canada when I was, like, ten years old … yeah, it's a bit complicated …"

"Oh, cool," I replied mildly enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to go to both of those places, but came here instead to become a professional singer and dancer."

He squinted at me and playfully tapped his chin with his index finger in mock thought. "Hmm, interesting."

I giggled lightly and shook my head.

"Oh, uh, hey, did you want to come over and sit with my friends? I was going to ask, but …" He trailed off nervously.

Smiling at his adorableness, I nodded. "Yeah, sure." I said reassuringly.

Yifan smiled brightly and hastily bent down to grab my wrist, dragging my along behind him at a semi-brisk pace. We reached a tree, where there were two boys sitting. One of the boys looked younger than Yifan but older than the other boy, who looked quite significantly younger than the other two, and looked as though if he stood up he would be a reasonable height, by my books anyway.

Yifan slowed his pace slightly so I caught up and was walking next to him. He then looked down at me with an expression as though he just had an epiphany. "I forgot to ask … do you know how to speak Chinese …?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Uh, barely enough to function a complete sentence. Why do you ask?"

"Haha, uh, well, I may have forgotten to mention that they're Chinese too, and they can probably speak as much Korean as you can Chinese, and even less English …"

I just looked at him, all emotion in my face was blank. Yifan just laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck and letting go of my wrist when he saw his friends turn their heads toward us.

The younger of the two boys looked back and forth between Yifan and me, while the older boy smiled brightly at the two of us and waved at me.

" **Hello!** " His voice sounded quite young, almost childish.

I couldn't help but smile is return. " **Hello.** "

He started saying something to Yifan that sounded like gibberish to my ears, but Yifan seemed to understand completely and replied hurriedly glancing at me every now and then. I thought I heard my name while they were talking, but I was probably just paranoid. The younger boy smiled at Yifan for some reason, and shook his head staring down in his lap.

'Cute.' I thought. The boy looked about my age, maybe even slightly older than me, but he was so adorable.

"Hey, (Y/N), you can sit down, if you want." Yifan looked at me with a small smirk. He turned away from me and lowered himself onto the ground with his back against the tree trunk, his legs crossed.

I followed suit and sat down apprehensively, at a safe distance from the two new boys, but not an unfriendly one. The older looking boy turned to me, his face bright with happiness.

" _Hello, (Y/N), my name is Yixing. It's really nice to meet you._ " He said.

I smiled even brighter.

" _It's nice to meet you too, Yixing,"_ I greeted him, bowing my head respectfully.

Yixing's smile was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. The way his eyes crinkled and his dimples became more prominent. All I had to do was have enough self-control not to pinch his cheeks.

The younger looking boy looked up at Yixing, then to me and smiled sweetly.

" _Hello,"_ he started tentatively. _"My name's Zitao, but people usually just call me Tao."_

I bowed my head, again, to Tao, _"nice to meet you, Tao."_

Yixing looked to Yifan and said something I didn't understand, but as soon as he was finished talking, Yifan turned to me.

"I'm going to be acting as translator for today, apparently." He said sarcastically, and I laughed.

Yixing said something else in Chinese to Yifan.

"Yixing wants to know if you're alright, you know, after before …" Yifan said, trying to be as delicate as possible towards me.

I smiled gratefully at Yixing, and said with the little Chinese that I knew, " **I'm okay, thank you.** "

Yixing cooed at my attempt at pronouncing the words in a Chinese accent, and cupped my cheeks with both of his hands while laughing, " **well that's good.** "

The four of us were laughing loud enough that we were getting strange stares from the people around us, but we didn't care. This was the first time in what seemed like forever since I smiled out of pure happiness, rather than thankfulness or appreciatively.

 _Perhaps a new beginning?_

It had been two months, and it seemed as though I was to stay with the boy's classes. Keeping up with the choreographies wasn't too much of an issue, though dealing with the boy that I had elbowed in the face was becoming a big issue. When it came to break times, I would always stick to one of the boy's sides, maybe even two or all three of them, so I'd be able to slip past the boy and his gang of dim-wits.

Yifan, Yixing and Tao were great friends. They would always talk to me in class when we were allowed to, especially when they saw me looking left out of group warm-ups and stretching. Tao even went as far as to turn up at the same time I did in the mornings, which was quite early, so we could talk and stretch together. I had made another friend, who also happened to be Chinese, thanks to my luck, but I could communicate with him, although it was difficult at time with pronunciation of words. He had the face of a child, just like Yixing, and I was surprised to find out that he was indeed several years older than me. I had introduced him to my other friends, and they got along quite quickly, thank god.

Rumours were going around that the people in charge of SM were going to put together another boy band; one with at least ten or so members, which sounded quite extensive to me. Although these rumours were most possibly true, there wasn't too much more anybody knew about the newly found details of the up and coming group. I sincerely hoped that at least one of the four boys got into that band.

"(Y/N)!" Called a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned to see Tao jogging up to me, and I smiled welcomingly. I had told the boys that they didn't need to use honourifics with me, considering I'm not of Korean heritage. Yixing still does, though, because he's an angel.

When Tao caught up to me, he slung an arm over my shoulders, and we walked into the SM Ent. building, down hallways and into the training room. The room was fairly desolate, only being populated by a small amount of guys, who were unsurprisingly loud while shouting chatting with each other.

After placing our drink bottled down on the table at the front, Tao and I went and sat, my back against a wall. I tried to push my legs out as far as I could, close to doing the splits, and Tao then placed his feet on the inside of my lower thighs and pushed gently outward, stretching the muscles there. He then grabbed my hands, pulling me towards himself to stretch even more. After about thirty seconds of that, Tao and I swapped, me doing the exact same for him.

After several more stretches, we just messed around until the other guys got here. Messing around included: being obnoxiously loud, chasing each other around the place, and pretend fighting with each other, where he would low-key scare me with his Wushu skills and me trying to scare him with my flying side-kicks that I learned when I used to do Taekwondo back high school in Australia. Some of the guys in the room watched us as we performed our martial arts, laughing when I got scared of a move that Tao made and squeaked, and occasional claps when I actually got a good move in.

We both eventually collapsed onto the floor, exhausted, but laughing our heads off. Our clothes were clinging to our sweaty skin.

While we were lying on the floor, Yifan and Yixing walked through the door unnoticed by us. Yifan condescendingly shook his head at us, but smiled regardless, muttering, "kids," under his breath. He walked over to me and held out his hand for me to take so he could pull me up, which I gladly took, but made no effort into helping support myself. This didn't seem to make any difference in the speed that he pulled me up at.

When I stood up in front of him and smiled gratefully. Though I did notice that he wasn't looking at me in the eyes, but rather a bit lower …

I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest, blocking his 'view', "eyes front, soldier!"

He immediately looked up at my face, blushed and looked away, anywhere but at me, and I laughed loudly. Thankfully no one seemed to see or understand what had just happened. I hugged the blushing Yifan as a greeting. I then turned to Yixing.

" _Oppa!"_ I yelled running to Yixing and throwing my arms around him as I did to Yifan.

He grinned, hugging me tightly, " _Dongsaeng!"_

I cringed and looked up at him, breaking the hug. " _Just call me (Y/N). It's a lot easier …"_

" _Never!"_ He laughed, making me slap his arm.

When he slapped my arm back, we started a game of trying to attack each other, just as Tao and I did earlier, just without the martial arts. Again, someone slipped through the door unnoticed by me,

I heard a gasp. " _Where's my hug, (Y/N)?_ "

My friend Luhan was standing in the doorway, his eyebrows furrowed, bottom lip jutted out, and his arms crossed. He honestly looked like a toddler. I, too, crossed my arms at him, and mimicked his facial expressions. It was like we were having a stand-off; like we were having a competition of 'who will break first and be the weakest of the two of us'. Luhan smiled as he slowly caved, and ran up to me, craning down to pick me up and swing me once around.

He put me down, giggling, just as the instructor walked in.

" _Lining up!"_ He instructed everyone in the room, and we complied, getting into our usual spots. I still hadn't learned anyone's name, other than those I was friends with, so I still didn't know the name of the extremely tall, young boy on my right or the shorter boy on my left, but it didn't bother me, nor did it bother them, so we left the situation at that.

" _New info on the next group that you guys can apply to join is up on the notice board in the hallway,"_ he said looking around at us. " _You can go put your name on–"_ some guys looked as though they were going to dash out the door to sign up, " _–after class. Not right now_." The instructor shook his head and smiled slightly.

I looked down at the floor. I didn't really know if I was allowed to apply for this group, considering it was meant for the boys, but … isn't that the reason why I'm training with them? I was supposed to debut in a boy group? The boy next to me nudged me, making me look up at him. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. I started to feel a sense of comfort coming from this young and freakishly tall boy.

" _(Y/N), that also includes you."_ The instructor added, obviously sensing my solemn vibe.

I looked over at him, but then back down at my feet, smiling widely. After processing the news, my head shot up and swung around, nearly throwing my neck out, to smile mischievously at the boys. Yifan softly kicked the back of my right leg with an amused look on his face to get me to pay attention to the instructor again.

" _Okay, now that you know that, we can start practice now,"_ he continued as he always does, turning to stalk his way over to the CD player, _"grab your partners and begin to warm yourselves up …"_

I barely caught the snort and slight mumble of the tallest boy in my class, while looking straight at me with a mocking look on his face. He looked simply frightened when I turned to him and looked at him straight in the eye.

" _And what's that supposed to mean?"_ I asked with a forceful tone.

He hesitated. _"Uh … I just said that it's not like you'd need warming up, considering you were running around earlier, and all …"_

I laughed at his nervousness. " _Yeah, true …"_

I smiled one last time at him, and finally turned to walk towards Luhan, Yifan, Tao and Yixing. But before I took more than two steps, the boy stopped me again.

" _I'm Chanyeol, by the way. Park Chanyeol."_ He said with a goofy smile.

I smiled at the tall boy, " _nice to meet you. I'd introduce myself, but that's already been done for me."_

" _Yeah, I remember."_ He laughed, " _(Y/N). It's hard to forget, being the only girl in the class …"_ he looked toward where I was initially headed; the direction of my friends. " _I would invite you to warm up with my friends and me, but I don't want to take you away from your friends."_

I let out a short playful huff, looking at the four boys stretching and laughing with one another, and turned back to Chanyeol who was almost about to turn away from me once I did. I shrugged at him.

" _They're fine. I can still come with you, if you still want me to."_ I said mock flirtatiously, shifting from leaning on one foot to the other.

He smirked at my blitheful persona and gestured for me to follow him to a small group of boys on the opposite side of the room to my friends. The group consisted of three boys, thankfully of more average height, though still taller than me. I didn't say anything to them, being shy, but Chanyeol lightly grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me to stand closer to the other boys to introduce them to me.

" _(Y/N), this is Hwan Chul …"_ he gestured to the shortest of the boys. He seemed to have slightly golden brown eyes, not that I was looking … " _this is Eun Gyeong …"_ his hand glided past a boy that was more on the taller side, but definitely not as tall as Chanyeol. His mouth seemed to permanently turn down at the corners, regardless of his constant smile. " _And finally Gi Hyeon. Make sure not to stand near him for too long, he's a little weird, and he might creep you out._ " The last boy grinned at Chanyeol and punched his arm, not so lightly. Gi Hyeon looked extremely friendly. Not that none of the boys I was friends with weren't, just he had a brotherly aura about him.

" _Don't worry, I'm not that weird._ " Gi Hyeon said to me, pink dusting his cheeks, smiling shyly.

" _It's completely fine,"_ I said, reassuringly, " _aren't we all a little weird?"_

He let out a short laugh, then nodded at me. " _Yeah, that's true._ "

I smiled at Gi Hyeon then looked to Chanyeol, who hadn't been speaking during our small bit of interaction, and saw he was smiling at us with a strange look on his face.

" _... what?"_ I asked him, kind of disturbed.

He attempted to hide his smirk and shook his head at me. _"Oh, nothing."_

Gi Hyeon shook his head at Chanyeol, his face flushed red. I still didn't understand, so I decided to ignore the two boys in front of me, and turned to face Hwan Chul and Eun Gyeong.

" _So how old are you boys? I just want to know so I can use correct honourifics._ " I asked, which surprised them.

Eun Gyeong talked first. " _I'm eighteen, and Hwan Chul is seventeen."_

Chanyeol and Gi Hyeon heard the discussion, and ultimately joined in.

" _Chanyeol and I are eighteen as well; Hwan Chul is the youngest among us."_ Gi Hyeon informed me.

I looked at them in mild surprise. " _Well I guess you guys are all older than me. I'm only sixteen."_

Chanyeol smiled at me. " _Then you can call us all Oppa, considering we're friends now, right?"_

" _Calm down, you snake ass spider,"_ Eun Gyeong hit Chanyeol on the back of his head, Chanyeol wincing. _"Maybe she's not that comfortable with us yet. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't, considering how creepy you have been in the last ten minutes."_

I don't know if the boys noticed, but I was laughing through their whole interaction. Not just a small chuckle, but a knee slapping, bent over, extremely loud laugh, which, as anyone would guess, brought attention towards us from numerous people around the room.

I sat on the floor, laughter still fighting its way out, and softly stretched because I had already warmed myself up.

" _(Y/N)! Why aren't you warming up with us?"_ A voice called through the loud chatter of boys having fun whilst preparing themselves for dancing.

I turned and saw Tao, mid-stretch, staring at me expectantly. I felt a little guilty for not telling them, but they didn't even come to get me at the start of warm-up, so the guilt fades quickly.

" _I'm branching out. Making new friends,"_ I said playfully. _"You should be happy for me."_

"Since when _?"_ Yifan shot back.

I put my hand to my chest in mock offence. "I'm offended. Since now."

"Since never. I know you."

"And what is that supposed to mean? Did you just assume I'm- "

" _What are you two saying?"_ Hwan Chul interrupted, slightly surprised, looking between Yifan and myself.

Chanyeol, Eun Gyeong and Gi Hyeon just stare at me.

Gi Hyeon leaned toward me. " _I didn't know you could speak English."_

I laughed at his perplexed state. " _I'm Australian. I thought you would've been able to tell I wasn't Korean."_

" _Well, I did realise you aren't Korean, I just wasn't expecting you to be English speaking. I thought you might've been from some country where they don't speak English or something, like Canada."_

" _People speak English in Canada …"_

" _Alright! Enough warming up! Let's start the choreography I taught you all the other day."_ The dance instructor yelled.

Everyone lined up in their rows ready to start; Gi Hyeon following me so he could stand next to me, the second tallest boy in this class stood in his usual spot to my right, and Yixing, Yifan, Luhan and Tao lined up behind me. Luhan kicked my achilles softly as some sort of payback for leaving them. Turning around to face him, I stopped and looked at him for about ten seconds, smiled and blew a kiss, and immediately turned back to the instructor.

If I had lingered a little longer, I would've witnessed Luhan turning bright red.


End file.
